Chandigarh: Woman duped of Rs 11.51 lakh on pretext of releasing £1.60 lakh parcel

In her complaint to police, the woman said, “Dr Ajay Patel introduced himself as a physician working for with a leading hospital in UK last eight years, which has its head office in Washington DC. I came in his contact through the matrimonial site. He told me that he wanted to settle in India and he will come back in January after making the final settlement at his hospital’s head office. On January 4, he called me saying that he cannot board a flight from UK as he has excessive luggage and he is sending a parcel at my address because he has no another reliable person in India. On January 8, I received a call from a custom officer named Simran and she told me to deposit Rs 26,000 in an account as fees for the port clearance. Between January 8 and January 26, I deposited Rs 11.51 lakh in various account numbers.”

Police said that Dr Ajay Patel may be a fictitious identity. He had created his fake profile on the matrimonial site and trapped the victim. Sources said, for winning the confidence of victim, the alleged custom duty officer, Simran, revealed to victim woman that the parcel was containing 1.60 lakh pounds equivalent to Rs 1.37 crore.

A police officer said, “The fake custom officer also sent a Kotak Mahindra Bank International Debit card to the victim for making the transactions. At the last moment, Dr Ajay Patel told the victim that he is coming to India on March 9.”
A case was registered at Sector 17 police station against the fake customs officer, Ajay Patel and two unidentified others.

In May, a woman doctor in Panchkula was cheated by a man, whom she met through a matrimonial site. The man disappeared after collecting jewellery and cash a day before the marriage ceremony at Red Bishop, Sector 1.